Use of Weapons

Absolute masterwork of SF literature. Banks never lets you get too comfortable with intricate story structure and heart-pounding action that comes in waves. He takes you a utopian cruise and then drops you into a hopeless shipwreck; and he does so again and again with beautifully descriptive prose until you're hit by a poetic tsunami at the end. So many ideas and philosophies and settings and twists! This is a virtuoso performing in his prime. Stylish, graceful, and above all, unforgettable.